Tidal drainage and irrigation valve



Nov. 18, 1958 M. w. SEITCHIK ET AL 2,850,636

TIDAL DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION VALVE Filed Dec. 21, 1956 INVENTORS Mz/SEHY M E/TCH/K 0/14 A. 65 5 88 78 J BY ATTORNE Y Unit Sta es Paten Application December 21,1956, SerialiNo. 629,900

1 Claim. or. 128-227) My invention relates to. aItidal: drainage andirrigation valve, and more particularlyrelates to a .valve for safely controllingthe automatictirrigation of apersons bladder.

In the treatment of patients who have lost the capacity to pass urinary waste materials. by themselves because of a malfunctioning 'mic'turition' reflex re'sultingffrom a stroke, Iparaplegia or similar disability, it is the common medical practice to withdraw the urinary waste by catheterization. .Where bladder disease has already occurred or as a' precautionary measure. to prevent such infection, it is also desirable to simultaneously irrigate the bladder with bacteriostatic solutions. Thus, the usual therapy is flush. the bladder continuously and during the same in terval, .to. empty the bladder at .apredeterrnined pressure by .catheterization' of thecombined volumeof the bacteriostatic irrigant and.the body urine secretions. 1 In prior devices,lconstant great .care .wasrequired by an attendant during such therapy to avoid overfilling the bladderas to causeits rupture, and yet insurethateflicient irrigation of the bladder. with bacteriostatic solution occurred. In particular,.since thewithd'rawnurine was apt to be purulent, the instrument exit line. could clog, thereby ultimately resultinginan excessive head of liquid placed upon the bladder. I

It is, therefore, an object of our invention to construct a. id l' r in gevalve forsafely controlling the automatic irrigation ofapersonsb1adder.. Another object of ourinvention is toconstructa tidal .drainagevalve wherein means are provided to. prevent an excessive head of liquid from being exerted upon the bladder, should any portion of the lines be clogged with purulent material. I j

Another object of our invention is to provide a tidal drainage valve wherein a minimum of air and water locking occurs. v;

Another object of our invention is to provide a tidal drainage valve for the automatic irrigation of the bladder without the need of an attendants continuous attention.

Another object of our invention is to construct a tidal drainage valve permitting observation of the interior valve processes at all times.

An'other object of our invention is to provide a tidal drainage valve which may easily be set up by a technician in a minimum of time, thereafter to safely remain unattended for long periods of time.

Another object of our invention is to provide a tidal drainage and irrigation valve which is easily disassembled and lends itself to ease to cleaning and sterilization.

Other objects of our invention are to provide an improved device of the character described, that is easily and economically produced, which is sturdy in construction, and which is highly etficient in operation.

With the above and related objects in view, our invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a tidal drainage valve embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the tidal drainage valve showing the details of its construction.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the tidal drainage valve wherein a safety manometer is incorporated therein.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawing in'qwhich "similar reference characters refer to similar parts, we show a tidal drainage valve embodying our invention comprising an outer cylindrical jacket, generally designated as A, in which is mounted an inverted U-shaped. syphon tube, generally designated as B. I

The outer jacket A comprises a hollow cylindrical barrel 12, preferably of an inert transparent plastic mate: rial, the upper and lower ends of which areclosed with double-apertured stoppers 14 and 16 respectively.

The upper stopper 14, has aninlet tube 17 communicating with the barrel 12 whereby saline and/or bacteriostatic solutions 18 may be fed therein from ajreservoir bottle 19 through flexible tubing 20 and a Murphy drip valve 21 in a conventional manner. A pinch cock 22 on the flexible tubing 20 may be adjusted to regulate; the

desirable rate of flow of bacteriostatic solution, preferably 30 to 60 drops per minute. A second hole 23 in the stopper 14 allows the interior of the jacket to communicate with the atmosphere.

The inverted U-shaped syphon tube B comprises a downwardly extending suction arm or upspout 24 and an exit arm or downspout 26, the two arms being interconnected by a closed end portion 28. It is to be observed that the suction arm 24 is of larger diamcterthan the exit arm 26 and has at its lower portion a biased open end 30 adjacent the lower portion of the interior of the barrel 12. The ditferential diameter of the two arms together with the biased end 30 of the upspout inhibits the formation of water beads within the syphon-tube B at the termination of .syphonage. In this regardit is further to be noted that a suitable wetting agent such as a poly:- oxyalkylene derivative sorbitan monooleate may bejadded to the solution 18 in order to further inhibit the production of water beads. The lower end of the exit arm 26 extends through one of the apertures in the lower stopper 16, the interior of the exit arm being further narrowed by the insertion of capillary tube 32 therein to restrict the rate of flow of the syphon tube into a suitable receptacle 34. .The second aperture of the lower stopper 16 has a combined feed and drain tube 36 projecting therethrough. and interconnecting with a single lumen catheter 38 through flexible tubing 40. See Fig. 2. When the catheter 38 is inserted within the bladder 42 through the urinary tract, the bladder directly communicates with the jacket A through the combined feed and drain line and the tidal drainage valve functions as follows: with the tidal drainage valve mounted vertically so that the level of the bladder 42 is approximately at the midpoint of the jacket A, the solution 18 is permitted] to drip from the reservoir 18 by releasing the pinchcock 22. The flow is adjusted whereby the solution will be fed into the jacket through the inlet tube 17 at the rate of from 30 to 60 drops per minute. This rate will fill the patients bladder in approximately one hour.

The level of fluid within the jacket A will continue to rise until it is commensurate with the bladder level at which point fluid will enter the bladder through the single lumen catheter 38. It is to be noted that waste liquid is being delivered from the kidneys to the bladder by the bodys natural processes, and this liquid urine also contributes to the filling of the jacket A when the bladder is full, the pressure therein will increase and cause the column of liquid within the jacket A and upspout 24 to rise. As the liquid rises in this manner, air may escape Patented Nov. 18, 1958.

through the port 23 to maintain atmospheric pressure on the growing column of liquid. As soon as the height of liquid rises above the closed end 28 of the syphon tube B, the liquid will spill over into the downspout 26 and cause a syphonic action which will act to immediately empty the contents of the jacket above the biased end 30. -Since the level of the biased end 30 in practice is at least six inches below the bladder, the bladder itself will be completely emptied of fluid before the syphonic action is broken when air enters the inverted U-tube B at 30. After the drainage of the bladder and the interruption of the syphonic action, the solution 17 from bottle 18 will again fill the jacket to begin another cycle whereby alternate irrigation and drainage intervals will continue until the solution supply is exhausted. It is also to be observed that syphonic drainage will also occur thereafter solely by the production of urine by the body itself when the intravescular pressure is above atmospheric pressure. In Fig. 3, we show a modification of our invention in which continuous rather than cyclic irrigation is afiorded through the use of a manometer inlet, generally designated as C, and a dual lumen catheter, generally designated as D.

The manometer C is contained within the jacket A and comprises a vertical in'let arm 50 which communicates with a manometer side arm 52 immediately adjacent thereto through a bore 54. The upper end of the inlet arm 50 extends through the stopper 14 and is connected to the solution reservoir bottle 19 in the same manner as the first mentioned valve inlet tube 17. The lower end of the arm passes through a third hole in stopper 16a wherein it is connected by a rubber tubing 56 to the outer chamber and orifice 58 of the dual lumen catheter D. The inner return orifice 60 of the catheter D communicates through flexible line 62 with drain tube 64, the drain tube 64 passing through the stopper 16a into the barrel 12. It is to be observed from Fig. 3 modification that the solution 17 enters the bladder directly by passing through inlet arm 50 and inlet tubing 56 into the outer chamber and orifice 58 of the dual lumen catheter D. The return line to the jacket A is separate and distinct through the inner orifice 60, tubing 62 and drain tube 64.

While the syphon tube B is mounted in a manner identical to the valve unit first described, there is no opportunity for residual purulent material and sediment collecting at the bottomof the jacket A to return to the bladder. Furthermore, incorporation of the manometer C modification with the dual lumen catheter permits continuous irrigation through one line and intermittent cyclic drainage to empty the bladder through a separate second line.

The purpose of the side arm 52 on the manometer C is to prevent an excessive head of solution to be imposed upon the bladder. Thus, the upper end of the side arm 52 is open and projects within the jacket A above the level of the closed end of the syphon tube B, thereby reflecting the pressure within the solution inflow circuit. If the pressure within the bladder should become excessive for any reason, as for example clogging of the exit line with solid material, the inflowing solution 18 will spill over the upper end of the side arm 52 and fill the jacket A. Thereafter, when the column of liquid rises above the closed end of inverted U-syphon tube B, syphonic action will withdraw the liquid from the jacket.

Since the entire valve is transparent, the complete operation therein is always observable. In addition, cleaning an'd/or sterilization of its component parts is easily accomplished by withdrawing them from the barrel 12 after removal of the stoppers.

Although our invention has been described in considerable detail, such descriptionis intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, 'since the invention maybe variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

We claim as our invention:

A tidal drainage and irrigation valve comprising an outer jacket having'a vent at its upper portion thereof,

a vertically disposed manometer having an inlet arm ex- 1 tending through the upper portion of said jacket for tubular connection with an overhanging reservoir containing irrigation solution, the lower portion of said inlet arm extending through the bottom of said jacket and being tubularly connected to one orifice of a dual lumen catheter, .the second orifice of said catheter communicating with the lower portion of said jacket through a drain tube, a manometer arm having one end in communication with said inlet arm, the other end of said manometer arm communicating with the upper portion of said jacket, and a syphon member axially disposed within said jacket and having one arm communicating therewith, the second arm of said syphon member extending through the bottom portion of said jacket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,385,876 Moorhead Oct. 2, 1945 2,486,405 Henderson Nov. 1, 1949 2,602,448 McKenna July 8, 1952 2,710,005 McConnell June 7, 1955 

